Vanguard to expand in Great Valley Corporate Center

Liberty Property Trust presents an artist rendering of the $55 million, 200,000-square-foot, six-story office building it will develop in the Great Valley Corporate Center for The Vanguard Group. Courtesy artist rendering.

EAST WHITELAND — Liberty Property Trust is developing a $55 million office complex for the Vanguard Group at Quarry Ridge, part of the Great Valley Corporate Center on Route 29.

Construction is expected to begin on the 200,000-square-foot, six-story building in March with completion in mid-2014.

Mutual fund giant Vanguard has signed a long-term lease and will occupy 100 percent of the building.

Vanguard was represented by Ron Cariola and Mike Morrone of Jones Lang LaSalle.

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The building was designed by D2CA Architects to achieve LEED certification. Studio/Bryan Hanes is the landscape architect, and Bala Consulting Engineers is the project engineer.

“Quarry Ridge gives us additional flexibility to grow in a smart, thoughtful manner by replacing property that is ‘aging inventory’ into a more modern and efficient building to operate,” said Joshua R. Grandy, Vanguard spokesman.

No decision has been made on which departments will move into the new space, Grandy said. Some 850 crew members — Vanguard’s term for employees — will work there.

The company already has substantial real estate holdings in Chester County including Vanguard’s expansive 200-acre corporate campus off Matthews Road, located about a mile from Quarry Ridge. The company also has leased space in Great Valley Corporate Center.

Last year Vanguard acquired the 88-acre former Pfizer property for $40 million, also on Route 29 and a stone’s throw from Vanguard’s headquarters and the new offices at Quarry Ridge.

Grandy said plans for the Pfizer/Vanguard campus call for the crew to move to the property sometime in the second half of 2013.

About 1,800 crew will work there after relocating from nearby owned and leased buildings, Grandy said.

Pfizer acquired the property in October 2009 when it purchased Wyeth’s assets for $68 billion.

After the purchase, Pfizer closed the Great Valley operation in 2010 and moved some of Wyeth’s 900 jobs to Pfizer’s Collegeville location and into its new Specialty Care Business unit. The remainder were laid off.

Two high-end buildings are on the property now, with approved plans for two more that were never built.

Vanguard employs 9,700 people along the Route 202 Corridor, mostly in the Great Valley area.

Vanguard also owns Happy Days Farm on Route 100 in Uwchlan where it proposed a 2.5-million-square-foot campus on 246 acres at the Downingtown interchange of the Pennsylvania Turnpike. The campus would eventually bring 10,000 jobs to the area, the company said at the time of the purchase in 2000.

Some road work has been done since then, but no buildings have been started.

“While we do have approvals in place, there are no plans to develop it at this time,” Grandy said. “But we periodically review our long-term space needs and retain the flexibility to build on the Lionville site in the future.”

Liberty Property Trust’s predecessor, Rouse & Associates, began development of Great Valley Corporate Center in 1972. Today, companies in the corporate center and surrounding subsequent developments employ approximately 25,000 people.

“Now in its 41st year, Great Valley Corporate Center is one of nation’s leading business parks and a major employment center for Greater Philadelphia,” said Tom Sklow, vice president and city manager for Liberty.

“The park continues to evolve and grow, and just last month became even more accessible with new connections to the Pennsylvania Turnpike.”